Statewide PA

Even though he’s still only “acting” Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley is cleaning house at the DEP–installing his own yes-men and women in important positions–and doing it just prior to issuing important new drilling regulations. For some time politicians and old-line mom and pop conventional (non-shale) drillers have been making a fuss that the rules that apply to shale drillers should not apply to non-shale drillers. Fair enough. There are some major differences. But the timing for creating a new Conventional Oil and Gas Advisory Committee in addition to the Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (OGTAB)–and mass firing the members of the OGTAB (as Quigley has done) seems darned peculiar in light of the fact they have to publish new drilling regulations this year or what has been a 3-year process will need to be restarted all over again…
Read More “Why did PA DEP Acting Sec Quigley Mass Fire Gas Advisory Board?”

The 2012 Act 13 law did a great deal to update oil and gas drilling regulations, something Gov. Ed Rendell failed to do when he was in office. But it didn’t do the whole job. Part of the law left it up to the five-member Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board, part of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, to codify all sorts of new regulations to make drilling better and safer. Remember, this started in 2012 (which tells you how slowly government moves). The original proposal had 23 pages of changes and new rules, which later blossomed to 73 pages (see 1984 PA Oil & Gas Act Rewrite Delayed but Still Coming). In 2013, the DEP took the draft regulations on “road show” seeking public comment, which they extended into early 2014 (see PA DEP Extends Roadshow for Public Comment on New Drilling Rules). The last we heard, the new regs were supposed to be released in very early 2015 (see DEP Sec. Abruzzo Says Budget Bill Means Delay in New Drilling Regs). Scratch that now. A draft of the final final final final rules was supposed to be discussed on Jan. 22, two days after the coronation of Gov. Tom Wolf, but that was canceled to give Wolf and presumably John Quigley, Wolf’s nominee to head the DEP, time to rewrite them yet again…
Read More “PA Drilling Regs in Process Since 2012 Delayed by PA Gov Wolf”

As the time approaches for hearings on newly-elected Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s choices to head up key agencies, like John Quigley nominated to heard the Dept. of Environmental Protection, some senators will have some pointed questions for him. MDN has covered some of Mr. Quigley’s controversial positions–things he’s written on his blog and the time he has spent at the anti-drilling PennFuture (see In His Own Words: Quigley’s Positions on Fracking, NY Ban, Etc.). He’s a true believer in global warming and thinks the heavy hand of government should do more to stop it. He’s also on record as saying in PA “in large measure, we have not gotten it right in the past”–referring to Marcellus Shale drilling (see Quigley Says Opportunity to Get Marcellus Drilling “Right” in PA). It’s statements like that that are giving some senators, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, “indigestion”…
Read More “PA Senators Have Some Tough Questions for DEP Nominee John Quigley”